Diametrically Opposed
by jadereesee
Summary: The common phrase passed around states that opposites attract, but perhaps the truth of it all is that until you get close enough to care for someone, you don't know enough about them to know if you're similar or not. When it came to Daryl and Amity, the doctor and mechanic couldn't have been more different- or so they thought. ( AU of the fic Breathless: begins before ZA )
1. Chapter 1

There were a few things in the world that could stump Amity Walker, and there were fewer things that could blow a hole in the woman's carefully formulated plans.

Amity ran her schedule like a well-oiled machine, the color-coded schedule that she kept tucked away under her arm at all times playing a big hand in making sure that she was on time and prepared for any and all commitments that she made... _ever,_ and boy, did the woman make commitments.

"Cierra, I don't think you understand what I'm asking right now." Amity spoke into the empty void that was the inside of her car, her bluetooth attached to her vehicle's radio so that she could focus on driving despite the fact that the familiar route she was taking did little to keep her attention anyways.

"See, now I'm almost _positive_ that you are asking me to cancel your dinner reservations with Tyson or did I misread the fine print?" A woman's voice asked over the speakers, pulling a slightly overdramatic sigh from the redhead's lips.

"I'm not asking you to _cancel_ , I'm just... asking you to reschedule it for me." Amity reasoned, her words not entirely truthful but she was selling it to her best friend, and secretary, to the best of her abilities.

"For the _fourth time_?" Cierra pointed out, making Amity cringe a bit in response.

Okay, maybe she _was_ asking her to cancel.

"I'm a busy woman!" Amity defended.

"Amity, baby, you're going to your dad's then to France for an entire week. The date with Tyson isn't until four days after you get back... just at least wait until you're back in the country, let alone Georgia, where I can knock some sense into you before you cancel on him again." Cierra requested.

Tapping perfectly manicured nails against the leather of her steering wheel, Amity considered her friend's request a moment before nodding to herself, her lips pursed as she already mentally rearranged her schedule around the two hour period that she had allotted for dinner with the man.

"Fine, I guess I can do at least that." She answered, rolling her eyes when she heard her friend cheering on the other side of the line, playing it up to annoy the redhead and doing a killer job at it.

"I hate you, you're dead to me." Amity deadpanned into the air, making a face at nothing as Cierra's laughter echoed around her.

"Love you too, baby girl. Have a blast on your trip and text me when you get to your dad's." Cierra requested and after confirming that she would and bidding her friend farewell, Amity pressed the touchscreen of the stereo to hang up the call.

For the next couple of hours, Amity's drive was filled with songs shuffling through over her radio from the playlist she had carefully crafted for that drive alone. Her organizational kick bled into almost every aspect of her life, and though she was supposed to be taking it easy for the next week and some change, the woman had her work folder and blackberry tucked away in her carry-on.

Humming along to the song playing over the radio, Amity's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she focused on the road that was now becoming a bit curvier as she entered the mountains.

Though the drive between her newer home and her father's ranch was a familiar one, climbing the mountains in her sports car was a bit of a task. She had opted for driving to her father's and then, subsequently, the airport and parking at there rather than having to take a cab- again, something that was a piece of her carefully crafted plan.

The redhead was convinced that she had thought through, considered, and had a game plan for every second of the _relaxing_ vacation she was taking.

Peaking the mountain that she was gliding up, Amity couldn't help but feel a bit breathless at the sight that the high altitude had provided her. The mountain range stretched out before her, the mist rising from it caressing the ridges and peaks in a way that was so natural it appeared almost supernatural.

Despite how quickly Amity had fled the area that she had grown up in, she couldn't help but admire its beauty.

Quickly checking her GPS with a few taps of her fingers against the touch screen sitting in place of the stereo dial, Amity's blue eyes followed the curvature of the highlighted route and noted that she was still about a half an hour out from her father's, and only about ten minutes out from the small town that Amity had always forgone for the slightly large town on the other side of her family's ranch.

Barely paying the small town any attention, the engine of Amity's foreign beauty purred as she came to a stop at one of the two stoplights that the town held.

Again, the woman found her fingers tapping a rhythm against her steering wheel as she pointedly ignored the gawking that came with the vehicle she was driving.

Even Amity would admit that the sleek Maserati GranTurismo Coupe that she had bought only a year before was a bit showy, but it was something fun that she had splurged for as a bit of a self-congratulation for all the work she put into her career.

Glancing at the clock on the center screen, Amity nearly sighed at how late in the evening it was getting. She hadn't been able to leave until after seeing her last client of the day and the hour was edging closer to midnight every second.

That was something else that played into the crowd gawking at the luxury vehicle that was idling on the street.

Though Amity didn't know much about the small town she was planning on simply blowing through, she knew enough to recognize the fact that for a population of less than 500 people, there were three bars around.

One of the rougher ones lived on the corner of the street that she was currently sat waiting for the light to finally change.

There was no cars approaching in either other direction for fuck's sake- what was the damn hold up?

Ignoring the small conglomeration of drunken men that were toeing the edge of the sidewalk to look over the sleek body of the car, Amity chewed her lip and was fairly grateful for the tinted windows that offered a bit of reprieve from the sleazy comments that were more than likely to accompany the sight of a woman in the sports car.

Finally, as if by the grace of God himself, the light ticked green and Amity more than happily laid on the gas to carry her through the intersection and away from the skeevy bar.

At least, that had been the plan.

So focused on simply getting away from the situation that she could sense building, Amity hadn't noticed the fact that there was now a vehicle approaching with a driver that apparently didn't understand what the shiny colored lights above the intersection meant when they changed.

So quickly that her mind barely had time to comprehend what was happening, the rear end of Amity's gorgeous vehicle was slammed into by a force strong enough to send her, and the vehicle, into a tailspin.

Clutching the steering wheel as her sandal-clad foot pushed the brake to the floor, Amity found her eyes scrunched nearly closed as her vehicle came to a full stop before the engine shut itself down.

In that moment, Amity noted three things. One, the airbags didn't deploy. Two, she had triple A and full-coverage on her baby, thank God. And three, this was _definitely_ not according to her plan.

Sucking in a shaky breath, Amity forced herself to address the situation like an adult though the sight of people already rushing around the accident site was enough to make her want to simply stay put safe and sound inside her car.

Realizing that she couldn't move her car, and that there was really no reason to due to the late hour and tiny ass town with little to no vehicular traffic, Amity grasped the handle of the door and shoved it open in a way that would hopefully restore some of her shaken confidence.

Standing up, the redhead took in first the few men standing around looking at her with a wide variety of expressions, and then the grey truck that sat only a foot or so away from the demolished tail end of her car with a barely smashed in front.

Looking at the amount of damage to the truck compared to the amount of damage to her car, Amity wanted to stomp her feet and pitch a fit like a child.

She wasn't even the cause of the accident and yet the perpetrator gets the good end of the deal.

Striding around her car, Amity pressed her lips tightly together as she approached the man just now climbing out of the driver's seat of the old Ford.

She took in the sight of the man under the streetlights from his dirt-smudged wife beater that was probably white once upon a time to the haziness of his gaze as he wildly looked around the intersection.

"God damnit, Merle." Amity heard a man call out from amongst the group of bystanders, but the driver, Merle apparently, paid them little mind as he blinked hard a couple of times before focusing in on Amity as she approached.

The woman already had her cellphone in hand, the number for the local police pulled up as she strode towards the man who had smashed in the back end of her car and subsequently, ruined the beginnings of her _relaxing_ vacation.

"Get out your insurance information. I've already got the number for the police." Amity said, pausing a foot or so away from the man.

She was about to tap the pad of her finger against the touchscreen of her cell to send the call, but Merle spoke up and startled her as he was a hell of a lot closer to her than he had been a mere second before.

"Hold on there, Sugar. Ain't no reason to get any damned pigs involved in all this." Merle drawled out, the stench of alcohol on his breath being enough to have the woman sneering at him as she took a pointed step backwards.

"I'm sure you would think there isn't, but unfortunately, I have no patience for idiot drunk drivers who smash into me." Amity stated, her voice cold and her tone clipped.

 _"Fuckin' bitch."_ She heard the man mutter under his breath, the snarl on his face being enough to have her moving to press the call button that much quicker.

"Wait, wait, just- fuckin' _wait_ a damn second, sweetheart." Merle requested, running a hand over his close shaven head and for some reason, Amity waited.

"My brother works at the auto shop a couple of blocks from here. He'll fix up your car, this is his damn truck." Merle offered out, but Amity shook her head, her wild curls bouncing as she did so.

"Listen, girl, _shit_. He'll get the dent out and the paint job fixed up, you can do your insurance shit or whatever but it ain't worth the police gettin' involved." Merle reasoned.

Looking again at the rear end of her car, Amity conceded that the damage wasn't as bad as she had initially decided it was with the adrenaline from the crash racing through her system.

If she was honest, she could care less about the insurance claim and everything else. She just wanted to get her car fixed so that she could get back on the road and back on schedule.

Clicking her tongue against the top of her mouth, Amity mentally cursed herself before giving into the roughneck's conniving words and nodding her head.

"Call your brother, and you better hope to God he answers or I'm calling the police then Triple A." Amity warned the man who immediately began to fumble in his pockets.

Turning away from the man who hurt her baby, Amity cut her eyes towards the crowd of drunken idiots that were still wandering about and nearly hissed like a damn alleycat at the sight of one of them about to touch her car.

"Hey, asshole! Hands off!" She snapped, making a few of the men's eyes widen while the man in question simply looked over at her, tilting his head a bit as if sizing her up.

"Ya gonna make me, baby?" The man asked her, his tone taunting and Amity considered the taser that was abandoned in the driver's side door of her car to the pepper spray that hung from her key ring, but it seemed that she didn't have to use either as Merle sidled up next to her.

"Boy, keep yer damn mitts to yourself before Red here tears your damn throat out and I kick ya while you bleed." The man drawled out, causing Amity to look over at him, her head tilting up slightly to catch a glimpse of the warning look on his face as he held his outdated flip phone to his ear.

"I ain't pickin' no damn fight, Darylina. I'm helpin' out a damn _lady_ \- just get your ass here with a tow truck." Merle then growled into the phone, assumedly to his brother, before flipping the device shut and looking at Amity as the man they had both snapped at retreated back to the bar with a good majority of the crowd.

"So, Princess, what brings you into town?" Merle asked her and Amity nearly snorted at the ridiculous polite act the redneck had slapped on in order to play nice with her.

"Not the nightlife, that's for damn sure." Amity replied, walking over to the dented in side of her car to gently run her fingertips over the folded metal.

"Ooo, girly, ya kiss yer momma with that mouth?" Merle asked, his tone taunting and Amity shrugged her shoulders.

"Nope."

A beat of silence fell between them, but it seemed that the flat answer didn't perturb the still less-than-sober redneck.

"Ya comin' to visit a boyfriend then? Some rough good for nothin' that you're pissin' off yer daddy with? Because there sure as hell's no other reason for you to be visitin' anyone in this place." He asked, actually pulling a snort of amusement from the redhead with that assumption.

"Hell no. I'm just passing through." Amity replied, finally explaining herself in hopes of getting the man to simply shut the hell up, but it was to little success.

"Ya lookin' for someone to piss of yer daddy with?" Merle asked, the attempt at a seductive tone making Amity roll her eyes at the man.

"You just hurt my pride and joy, I wouldn't touch you with anything less than a crowbar." Amity told him simply, her brows raising in surprise when he let out a barking laugh.

"Fair enough." He mumbled, holding up large rough hands as he stumbled a step back, the alcohol in his system so blatant in every one of his movements that Amity reconsidered her decision to let him off the hook for the wreck.

Fortunately for Merle, before Amity had time to truly reconsider much of anything, headlights shone on the pair of them as a tow truck approached.

Amity lingered by her vehicle as Merle loped over to the truck's side as it backed its way up and over to the wreck site, parking before the driver's side door swung open and a pair of tattered muddy boots emerged.

As they touched down on asphalt, the owner approached Merle, an angry sneer twisting his otherwise attractive face in a way that had Amity deciding to stay put where she was though her eyes trailed over the man.

She sized him up, taking in his sleeveless flannel and the way his hair was slightly unkempt as if he had just been sleeping on it, which he probably had been.

The only thing that had Amity snapping out of her scrutinization of the new-comer was the sound of boots as both him and Merle approached her.

"See, baby brother, I told you I was helpin' out a lady." Merle said, his words slurring as he spoke and Amity pursed her lips a bit.

"Yeah, helping a lady after smashing in the ass end of her vehicle." Amity snapped, obviously surprising Merle's brother as she did so.

"Oh yeah, Princess here's got a fuckin' attitude problem." Merle told his brother, as if it was a fast fact about her that he had forgotten to add.

"Honestly, _fuck you_ \- a drunk driver hit me in the middle of the tiniest fucking town in Georgia at midnight! I think I have a right to have a damn attitude problem!" Amity snapped, once again finding herself reconsidering her decision to give the redneck an out, but as Merle laughed loudly and his brother shifted slightly at his side, muttering something to the man that she couldn't quite catch, Amity forced herself to suck in a deep breath.

Her eyes closed for a couple of seconds as she gathered herself before opening them once more and instead focusing in on Merle's brother, a man that, though he looked as nearly as rough as his brother, seemed to be the more reasonable and sane of the two.

Definitely the more sober, nonetheless.

"I'm Amity by the way. Sorry your brother called you out here this late. He said you could help." Amity greeted, holding out a slender pale hand towards the man who looked at it as if it might bite him.

Just as Amity was considering pulling her hand back and awkwardly dropping it to her side, the man seemed to snap out of whatever state he was in and grasped her hand, completely enfolding it in his own.

The woman was taken aback for a moment at the warmth of the mechanic's large rough grip. Her hand was lost in his grasp as he gently shook it, acting as if she was likely to break under his fingertips.

"Daryl." He grunted out and Amity gave him a small smile.

"Well, Daryl- think you could give me a tow?" She asked and he nodded, grunting out what sounded like a confirmation before dropping her hand like a hot iron, causing her smile to falter a bit.

He moved towards her car, his brother trailing along at his side with Amity following a step behind now.

"God damnit, Merle. Ya just had to smash into somethin' forgein?" Daryl growled at his brother who shrugged his broad shoulders in response as if to say, 'well, what can you do?'

"Can you fix him?" Amity asked, causing both men to turn and silently look at her for a beat.

"Yeah, I can fix it." Daryl said simply, garnering himself a bright smile in return.

"Perfect, then I need the keys to the truck." Amity replied and both men looked at her like she had just suggested they find a nearby lake to jump into bare ass naked.

"The hell you need my keys for?" Merle asked and Amity could have swore that Daryl muttered a correcting, ' _my_ keys', but she didn't dwell.

"My car is getting towed, Daryl has to drive the tow truck and you are sure as hell are not getting back in that thing to run it into someone else and ruin their night too." Amity reasoned out.

She watched the brother's exchange a long look before Daryl was holding out his hand and Merle was placing a set of keys into them.

Turning narrowed eyes on Amity, Daryl held the keys out to her but didn't let go once her fingers had closed around them.

"Be careful with her. The engine's touchy." He informed her and Amity nodded, holding the man's surprisingly gorgeous eyes to reassure him that she wasn't going to wreck the truck any further.

"You can trust me." Amity told him, watching as he blinked once, seemingly unsettled by her words.

With another noncommittal grunt, the man was releasing his hold on the keys then disappearing to the back of the tow truck.

Amity looked over to Merle to find the man grinning at her like a fiend and rolled her eyes once more before heading towards the grey truck with the metal of the keys biting into her palm.

None of this was going to plan.

A couple of redneck brothers, one with pretty eyes and warm hands and the other with a drunken grin and sleazy attitude, were definitely not a part of her plan.

She just needed to get her car fixed and back on the road, then everything would get back to how it was supposed to be.


	2. Chapter 2

The cool concrete under Amity's jean clad ass had the woman shivering even in the fairly warm summer evening as she sat cross legged on the dirty floor of the garage, watching the man who claimed he could fix her car attempt to do just that.

"Ya know there are chairs over there." Daryl's voice, muffled due to the way he was tucked under her car, told her and the redhead simply shrugged in response.

"If I sat in a chair then I couldn't watch to make sure you aren't hurting my baby." Amity informed him, not being able to stop a slight smile from pulling at the corners of her lips as she heard a scoff from the man.

"Ya even know what I'm doing under here?" He asked in return and she shrugged again.

"No, but if something goes boom or starts leaking then I'll know to start yelling." She reasoned.

Those words garnered no response from the man, at least not one that she was aware of, and that was well enough since their pow-wow in the garage was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket.

Glancing at the caller I.D., Amity sighed softly before swiping the screen with her thumb and holding the phone to her ear.

"Hi, daddy." She greeted, leaning back on one of her hands as she listened to her father lament about the time of the evening and how she had yet to arrive.

"I ran into some car troubles, daddy, but it's alright." She explained before shaking her head at her father's insistence to come get her.

"It's not worth it. I'm just a town over and I'm sitting in a mechanic shop now waiting for it to be fixed." She told her worried father, not wanting the man to strain himself and putting a stop to his thoughts about doing so then and there.

"Michael doesn't need to come out either. I'm sure he just got to the house too." She added, knowing that her father was more than likely already planning on sending her older brother to fetch even though the man had just drove from North Carolina himself.

"I'll be over just as soon as my car is fixed, daddy. I love you and I'll see you soon, okay?" Amity said, trying to end the call while she was ahead. "Okay, night."

Chuckling to herself, Amity clicked the button on the side of her phone to hang up the call. Focusing back in on the garage around her, Amity realized that at some point, Merle had wandered into Daryl's truck and passed out across the seats.

"He do this a lot then?" Amity asked Daryl who made a noise of question in return.

"Merle, I meant. Is this the kind of thing he does a lot?" She clarified.

"What's it to you?" Daryl grumbled as he slid out from under her car, sitting up to send a narrow-eyed glare her way.

For a moment, Amity was taken aback by the sight of him.

The sleeveless flannel he wore showed off the toned lines of his thick arms, accentuated by the grease that was now smeared across his skin as well. Even with the look he was giving her, the man's eyes were stunning and the edge of his jaw accentuated the whole man's man image that he had going on.

Daryl was definitely not like any other man that Amity had taken an interest of any sort in before, but simply being under his gaze had a shiver rushing through her. She usually went for men like the one's who date plans she was currently dodging. They ranged from upper average to model-esque in looks, wore suits and slacks more than anything else, and tended to take her out to fancy restaurants with the usual hopes of getting her wine drunk.

Swallowing and finding her head once more, Amity shrugged her shoulders now that he could actually see her doing so and fought off a blush due to her having ogled him.

"Just wondering about the man who hit me. Wanted to know if he was a repeat offender." Amity answered finally. "I know he's your brother, but should I have honestly pressed charges? If he does this a lot then what's me letting him off the hook going to help?"

Daryl seemed to be assessing her as she spoke, something that made her uncomfortable as it had in every meeting she had with peers in her field.

She liked to be the one sizing people up, not the other way around, and Daryl's bright blue eyes seemed to look right through her.

"Jail ain't never helped him none neither." The man answered and Amity nodded, sighing softly.

"Our prison system is one of the largest providers of mental health in the country, but its shit with reform programs. We feed into a poisonous cycle." Amity lamented, shaking her head as she mindlessly unlocked her phone and began to scroll through some app to pass the time.

She could feel Daryl's eyes on her and only once she heard him stand and begin to mess around with the back of her car, did she chance a glance towards him.

"Do you enjoy being a mechanic?" Amity asked, now searching for conversation topics since it seemed that their night wasn't going to get any shorter.

Silence stayed in the air between them for so long after Amity's question that she was convinced he was going to ignore her until his gruff voice finally filled the space.

"It's a job and I'm good at it. Know it ain't nothing fancy though." He grumbled and Amity frowned slightly at that.

"It's more than I could do. I'm shit with cars. I couldn't change a tire if asked to and that's exactly why I pay for Triple A." She explained, laughing softly at herself while Daryl stilled his fiddling at the back of her car.

"It ain't hard." Daryl insisted, his tone taking on something that Amity would have almost dared to call meekness if she hadn't known any better.

"It looks hard." Amity countered.

"I bet you're something like a doctor or a lawyer with a car like this, right? Or married to one?" Daryl asked back, taking the reins on the questioning for a moment.

He figured that she wasn't married or engaged since there wasn't some big rock sitting on her finger (he had checked), but he couldn't resist dropping that into his question anyways.

"Something like that, though definitely not married to one." Amity replied, not too shy about sharing a few personal details of her life.

"I'm a clinical psychologist. I focus on neuroscience though. I like brains." She explained, smiling once more when she heard what could have been a snort of laughter from around the back of her car.

"Ya need to get out of here quick then. Ain't much of them in this town." Daryl informed her, and unbeknownst to Amity, he smiled a bit proudly when he heard her laughter echoing through the space.

"I would argue against that." She said, once her initial amusement had passed. "You seem to have gotten more than your fair share of the brains in your family."

The look that Daryl shot her from around the vehicle let the woman know that he didn't quite agree and she had to resist the urge to shake her head at him. It seemed that the mechanic was determined to be down on himself no matter what she said.

They'd work on it.

The thought passed through her mind before she had time to stop it and once it had, Amity felt fairly mortified.

 _They'd work on it?_

Hell, she had just met the man and she highly doubted that she would ever get around to seeing him again once her car was fixed.

It wasn't that she would mind seeing the attractive though grumbly mechanic again, but she simply doubted that they would ever cross paths again, not with her schedule.

Besides, from the way he was pretty much avoiding interaction with her unless she pushed the conversation, she wasn't convinced that he would _want_ to see her again.

Around the other side of the car, Daryl was having a slightly similar war in his head.

The dent in Amity's car's rear fender was fixed. It had been no problem to straighten it out, but the paint was another story altogether.

Her car was foreign and therefore, getting a match for the damn thing would take some time and that seemed to be the one thing that Amity didn't have if her constantly buzzing phone and the suitcases in her car were enough to go by.

Daryl felt guilty.

He had said he could fix her car, and while he could, it would take another day or two, but that was only part of why he felt guilty.

The other side of his guilt came from the fact that he wasn't really displeased about her needing to stick around if she wanted her car done and done right.

It was stupid thinking. Ridiculous even, and he berated himself over it even as his blue eyes wandered back over to take in the small woman whose mane of red hair was now free from the ponytail she had just had it pulled up in. It framed her face in a way that had his heart stuttering in his chest, his palms sweating as his fingers twitched with the yearning to run through the wild locks.

Abruptly standing, Daryl cleared his throat and watched as Amity startled a little at the suddenness of it all.

"Jesus Christ, Daryl." She gasped, a small hand to her chest as she gave him a look that let him know that he had scared her.

"Sorry." He muttered, albeit hesitantly, before gesturing broadly back to her car.

"Done what I could for tonight. I can put in an order for the paint, but it could come in as late as 5 tomorrow." He explained, looking pointedly at the car instead of her.

Amity's sigh permeated the space in the garage, one hand rising to press its palm against her forehead as she thought over her options.

She guessed she could call a taxi to take her to her dad's that night. She knew damn well that there wasn't an Über driver within miles of the small Georgia town and after brushing off her dad's offer of a ride, she knew she wouldn't be calling him nor her brother.

"Do you have the number for a taxi service around here?" Amity asked, finally pulling Daryl's eyes to her with the question.

The man's brow furrowed a bit and he looked at her like she had spoken Greek.

"There ain't nothin' like that around here. Not one that you'd want to be sittin' in at least." He informed her and Amity could feel a headache coming on at that tidbit.

"So, I'm stuck?" She questioned.

"Car's drivable, just not done being fixed." He replied and that calmed her quickening pulse slightly.

"Know of a good hotel then?" She asked in return and he chewed the nail of his thumb, glancing over at his brother's feet that hung out of one of his truck windows.

"We'll find ya a place."


	3. Chapter 3

As it turned out, finding a place that late in the evening was not as easy as Amity would have hoped.

Due to how absolutely tiny the town was, it contained only one hotel, and it turned out that that hotel just so happened to be booked full thanks to a hunting party that had settled in.

The hotel was rather active when they pulled up to the front of it and the parking lot full of fancy lifted trucks with ATVs in the beds clued Amity on to the fact that she was more than likely not going to be getting a room there that night before she had even walked in the front door.

She didn't miss the way that Daryl had scoffed at the sight of a few of the men who were hanging around the lobby as she attempted to check in, him insisting on coming with her to ensure that she had a place to stay since even he had been doubtful that she would have luck after seeing the place busier than he had in a long while.

It was sweet, but with the dirty looks that the mechanic was throwing the showy game hunters, Amity half-wished he would have sat out in his truck.

She didn't need any trouble to start due to the man's disdain, though she understood the feeling as she took in the 'ruggedness' of the men's beards and outfits that were simply too clean cut to be natural.

With a resigned sigh, Amity turned away from the counter to look at Daryl, one hand reaching out to gently touch his shoulder to gain his attention since she needed to break the news of her bad luck to him.

The man flinched as if she had burned him and in response, Amity pulled her hand back so quickly that she nearly sprained her wrist.

"Sorry." She apologized quickly, unaware of the mental berating that Daryl was giving himself. "I should have asked."

The look on Daryl's face was enough to have Amity aware of his anger, though it wasn't truly directed at her, but himself.

"What?" He half-snarled and the woman raised one brow at his lashing out, debating whether he was going to correct the behavior before shaking her head softly to herself and deciding that moving on from the issue was better than her repeating the reason for her apology.

They both knew what had just happened and it was more than obvious that it wasn't something that the man was comfortable with addressing, so she wouldn't be making him.

He was helping her out and he didn't deserve her invasive prodding.

"The hotel is booked full. Looks like I'll just have to drive back out here tomorrow or whenever with my car." She said, resigned to that being the case.

It wasn't the most convenient of things, but she wasn't sleeping in her car and she needed to get it fixed.

She watched Daryl as he turned and stalked towards the front door of the place, her focus on him, but she didn't miss the way a couple of the men in the lobby seemed ready to talk to her now that he was out of the way and she scurried after him once that was made clear.

She had no interest in being talked up by anyone at that hour, let alone a bunch of flashy hunters on a boy's trip.

"Sorry that you had to come all the way out here with me. What time do you think you will want me back tomorrow?" Amity asked as she caught up to the mechanic.

With a huff of air being released from between his lips, Daryl considered the tiny redhead for a moment before mentally groaning at the words he was about to say.

"Ain't no point in ya drivin' all the way out of town. I got a bed and I got a couch." He told her and for a minute, Amity had no words.

She couldn't believe that the man who was snapping at her seconds before was now offering her a place to sleep for the night.

She was bound to get whiplash at this rate.

Apparently her shock had lasted too long because the growly snappy Daryl was back in seconds flat and he was throwing a hand up.

"Whatever. Forget I offered. I ain't no fancy ass doctor, but-" He began his rampage and Amity only let it go on for a moment before cutting him off.

"That's really sweet of you to offer, Daryl and I appreciate it, but I don't want to put you out because of your brother's mistake." She said, her tone kind but firm as if daring him to try to talk over her and continue with his rant.

Daryl looked at Amity with shock of his own after she had spoke, unbelieving that she wold actually be accepting his offer.

"It's just a damn night. You wouldn't be puttin' me out or whatever." He grumbled, suddenly feeling self-conscious over his hospitality and the way she was smiling softly up at him.

"Then I accept. One night isn't going to kill either of us... unless you're secretly an axe murderer who fixes cars in his down time?" She said, raising a brow at him in question.

The mechanic let out a derisive snort and shook his head.

"You've watched too many horror movies, girl." He told her and she shrugged in response.

Perhaps she had, but better paranoid than dead. Her dad and brother would be furious if they found out she was planning on staying in the house of a man that she had just met.

"Well, lead the way, slick and I'll follow you back to your humble abode. For your kindness, I'll even help you haul Merle's drunk ass inside." She offered with a laugh but Daryl was already shaking his head, a wry smile on his lips.

"No need. His stupid ass is sleepin' in the truck." Daryl informed her.

Amity's laughter simply grew at his words, her white teeth flashing as dimples pleasantly indented her cheeks.

Daryl found himself a bit stunned by the redhead even as she turned away from him, her keys in hand as she headed back to her scraped up car, obviously more than ready to follow him back to his place.

Not for the first time that night, Daryl was wondering what the hell Merle had gotten him in to.


	4. Chapter 4

It was pushing on nearly four in the morning by the time Amity found herself turning down a poorly paved road, following the bouncing red tail lights of Daryl's truck in front of her.

The sign at the start of the road had clued her into the fact she was pulling into a trailer park even before some of the trailers had come into sight.

Looking around as she drove, Amity smiled softly at the small porches with flower pots set on the railings, bicycles tucked against the sides of the trailers, and the sight of a cat darting off towards one of the homes.

It was a fairly nice neighborhood, one that apparently held a few families, and the thought comforted Amity a bit more over the fact she was staying with a guy that she had just met.

Sure, she was a grown ass woman and had her fair share of one offs with a guy that she met in a bar or club, but it usually ended with them in a hotel room rather than chancing going to their place or taking them back to her's.

Amity rarely did anything spontaneous, but that was all that her night so far seemed to consist of.

The screen in her car flashed a text message across it just as Amity was pulling into the driveway beside one of the trailers, parking next to Daryl's truck.

Reading Cierra's name, the woman simply ignored the text and grabbed her phone from where it sat in the center console.

Pushing open her door, Amity climbed out of her vehicle, pausing as she watched Daryl do the same.

Before the mechanic had closed his truck's door, she caught sight of Merle's broad form leaned up against the passenger's side window, apparently asleep.

Letting out a soft chuckle, the woman smiled over at Daryl before popping her trunk open with the key fob in her hand and pulling her smaller duffel bag out of the back.

Just as she was draping it over her slender shoulder, the weight of it lifted from her hands and the redhead turned to see that Daryl had joined her around the back of her car and was now taking her bag from her without a word, avoiding her eyes all the while.

"Thanks." Amity said, her voice soft and genuine in a way that had the man's eyes flickering to her for a moment before he nodded towards his home.

Taking the hint, Amity locked her car with a press of a button before following him up the short paved path to his small front porch steps. She waited as he unlocked his door, pulling the screen door open and pushing in the main one before gesturing for her to head inside.

With another smile his way, Amity stepped through the threshold and cast her eyes around the space for a moment.

The inside of the doublewide was well kept. Things were neat though there wasn't much inside the space that told her someone lived there.

The couch looked comfortable enough, however, and it was clean, so that was all she really cared about.

The sound of the door closing behind her had her glancing over his shoulder at the man with her bag.

"Truly, Daryl, thanks again for letting me stay with you." Amity said, feeling more comfortable in the space of his home than she had thought she would.

Perhaps it was simply the exhaustion she was feeling, but maybe not.

As if reading her thoughts, or simply seeing the tiredness behind her eyes, Daryl grunted out a noncommittal sound in response to her thanks before hiking her lavender duffel bag further up onto his broad shoulder.

The sight was one that would have made her laugh had she known the man better, but even right then, seeing the rough mechanic holding her bag had the corners of her mouth twitching up.

"Bed's back here. I can take the couch for the night." He told her, but immediately the woman was shaking her head.

"I don't think so, Slick. This is your place. You're the one that is doing me a favor. I can sleep on a couch for one night." She reasoned, but the man was shaking his head in return.

"It ain't a big deal. I fall asleep on the couch half the time anyways-" He began and Amity heard a stubbornness in his voice that she was sure matched her own.

Sensing that they were going to be at an impasse, the redhead pursed her lips a bit before smiling wryly over at him.

Gracefully gliding forward, watching as his eyes widened a bit in confusion at her approach, Amity reached for the strap of her bag, her fingertips brushing over the bare skin of his arm as she wrapped a hand around it.

"Well, if you're not going to let me sleep on the couch, and I'm not going to let you sleep on the couch, I sure do hope your bed is bigger than a twin." She commented, looking up at him with raised brows and a smile that had him confused even as his heart raced in his chest.

Catching his look of confusion, Amity shrugged a slender shoulder before tugging her bag free of his hold and into hers.

"We're both adults, Daryl. We can share a bed without it being weird." She reasoned, and as the man finally caught on to what she was stating would be their sleeping arrangements for the night, he felt his face flush before he could do anything to stop it.

Catching sight of the pink tinge high on his cheeks, Amity's approval of the man went up a notch or two.

Here was this gorgeous rough man blushing over the fact that she suggested they platonically share a bed for the night.

What had she gotten into?

"You coming?" She asked over her shoulder as she walked down the short hall, hunting down the bedroom and smiling at the sight of a queen bed.

There would be more than enough room.

"I'm just gonna take the couch. Don't need to-" Daryl's gruff voice sounded from the doorway behind her but Amity wasn't having any of it. Turning, she fixed the man under a look that had him avoiding her eyes, shifting uncomfortably until he finally lifted his gaze to her's as if realizing that she wasn't going to speak until he did.

"Either sleep on the bed and I'll take the couch or we share the bed. If you try to take the couch, I will lay on the living room floor." She told him simply.

"You always this stubborn about pointless shit?" He grumbled and instead of getting defensive in response to his words, the woman smiled.

"Depends on what you count as pointless shit." She reasoned, setting her bag on his worn grey comforter and unzipping it to pull out some decent pajamas for the night along with her hygiene products.

"Bathroom?" She asked, tilting her head a bit as she questioned him.

"First door from this one down the hall." He replied, his gruff tone threatening to make the words seem annoyed, but Amity didn't think they truly were.

With another smile offered to the man, Amity headed towards where he directed.

After brushing her teeth and wiping off the majority of her makeup, Amity pulled on a pair of black yoga pants and her sports bra before tugging on an oversized shirt on top of it all.

Wandering back down the hall, Amity knocked on the half closed door before entering at the grunt she received in response.

The first thing that she noticed was that the man had changed into a pair of black sweatpants and a plain t-shirt, looking homely in a way that had Amity fighting off a blush in her cheeks.

The second thing she noticed was the fact that he was standing next to his bed as if it was a stray dog and he wasn't quite sure how to approach it.

Tugging her bag from the bed and onto the floor, Amity wandered around the side that he wasn't on and flipped down the covers.

"How many hours do we get to sleep?" She asked the man with a yawn as she sat down, tucking herself under the blankets.

"I get up at 7." He told her and though the hour wasn't one that Amity was used to, she wasn't complaining.

"Then I'll see you again in a couple of hours, Cowboy." She said, patting the bed next to her to encourage the man to lay down which he finally did. His actions were stiff and hesitant, but she figured once she was asleep and left him alone, he'd relax.

"Night, Daryl." She said through a yawn, relaxing against his pillows where sleep quickly reached out for her.

"Night, girl." Daryl said quietly, his deep voice barely carrying over to her before she had fallen asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

When Amity woke, it wasn't due to an alarm.

No, at first, it was the unfamiliar but not uncomfortable heavy warmth around her waist and pressed against her back that had her blue eyes fluttering open.

She froze, tense and confused until her sleep addled mind caught up with the rest of her and she remembered whose wall it was that she was staring at.

After a few more moments of thought, Amity deduced that the arm draped heavily over her and the form pressed along the curve of her spine must have been Daryl.

A smile flickered over her lips before she could stop it- she didn't take the gruff mechanic for a cuddler.

Not wanting to disturb the peaceful moment, even though the woman realized that she definitely should have been more upset over the fact a practical stranger was cuddling up to her in the middle of the night, Amity laid still and let her eyes close once more.

She didn't fall back asleep, but she took time to simply enjoy the quiet comfortable morning.

The next time her eyes opened, it was after a loud alarm had rang and the man beside her had woken up.

She kept her eyes closed as he seemed to tense up, realizing how he was molded alongside the woman who he had been nice enough to let stay over, but once he seemed to decide that she was still sleeping, he moved.

It was only after he had gotten out of bed and she counted to ten that she pretended to wake.

Rolling over and stretching her arms above her head, Amity caught sight of the owner of the house at the doorway and offered a sleepy smile, knowing that her ginger curls had to be a mess on top of her head.

The mechanic looked at her for a moment before muttering something to himself and disappearing down the hall, leaving Amity staring after his back.

Deciding to waste no more time, the woman forced herself up and out of the warm bed and over to her bag.

Taking it to his bathroom, she made quick work of sorting out her appearence. She detangled her curls, taming them into a french braid the best that she could before applying a light coating of makeup to brighten her tired eyes.

She donned the most causal outfit she had in her duffle bag, dark jeans and a flowing burgundy tank top, then left the bathroom with her bag over her shoulder as she searched for her host.

Stepping into the living room, Amity quickly spotted the sandals that she had discarded the night before and decided she would simply put them on before they left that morning.

The smell of coffee had the redhead wandering further towards the small kitchen, spotting Daryl leaning against the counter.

The man seemed to take a second to look her over, his sharp eyes pausing first on her hair then on the necklace that dangled from her throat.

It was long, perhaps not the most practical of things, but the golden chain and small golden feather on the end kept her outfit from being too boring, at least, to her.

"Morning!" She chirped, looking longingly over at the coffee pot next to the man.

Daryl let out a snort, rolling his eyes at the woman's obvious facial expressions, before reaching behind him and pulling a chipped mug down from the cabinet.

"Black good with ya?" He asked her and Amity brightened up immediately, nodding her head.

He could have been offering her literal coffee grounds to chew on and at that point, she'd have taken them.

"How long do we have before we're leaving?" Amity asked and Daryl glanced over to the clock on the stove.

"About fift-" He began, but was cut off by the sound of the front door slamming open.

Amity jumped at the abrupt noise, nearly sloshing the coffee in the cup that Daryl had just handed her all over the floor.

Turning towards the living room, she spotted Merle just as the man seemed to spot her.

It took a few seconds of the pair sizing one another up before the man's lips were pulling up into a lewd grin.

"I told you to fix her car, baby brother, not to-" The man began, but this time it was Daryl who cut someone off.

"Shuddup, Merle. Car couldn't be fixed last night, she needed somewhere to stay." The younger of the brothers growled, pulling Amity's eyes over to him.

She noted the pink tinge high on his cheeks and turned to give Merle a sharp look.

"Yeah, the car that _you_ hit couldn't be fixed last night, so your brother, being the great man that _he_ is, decided to keep the woman who could _press charges_ on your sorry drunken ass happy and from having to drive out of her way." Amity said, her tone unforgiving but it didn't seem to perturb the older man.

"Oh, I bet he kept ya happy alright." He drawled out and Amity scoffed in disbelief.

Merle was simply too much to deal with at this early of an hour.

"We gotta go." Daryl said from behind her, his reminder a wonderful reprise from how many ways Amity was considering injuring his brother.

Quickly, the redhead threw back the contents of her mug before wandering over to the sink and rinsing it out.

She left the cup in the metal bowl, turning to find that Daryl was offering her a dented and scuffed thermos that matched the one in his other hand.

With a bright smile, Amity eagerly accepted what she assumed to be more coffee and sidled her way past Merle into the living room where she could put on her shoes and grab her bag.

Once out the door and back to her car, Amity only had to wait a couple of moments for Daryl to appear and get into his truck, an annoyed look on his face.

The woman figured that Merle had simply ran his mouth some more, as that seemed to be is M.O., and took a sip of the coffee Daryl had given her before backing out of the small driveway and following Daryl to the garage.

* * *

Even with how early it was, the garage was definitely more lively than it had been the night before.

Pulling into the parking lot, Amity followed Daryl's instructions and drove her car over to one of the garage doors, ignoring the eyes on her vehicle.

Once it was in place, the woman climbed out and was immediately met with a couple of mechanics who looked more than eager to get their hands on her car.

"Need an oil change?" The younger of the two asked, his southern twang pronounced and his green eyes bright with interest and excitement.

She read the name "Kennedy" off of his name tag, his friend's being "Jacobs."

She was assuming that they didn't get anything more interesting than old trucks and mini vans in their small hometown shop, so they were jumping at the opportunity to handle something different.

"Actually no, thank you, but Daryl's already looking after me." Amity told the men, giving them one of her best polite grins and watching as their faces quickly turned from eager to confused.

"Dixon?" The older of the two, Jacobs, asked and Amity shrugged, unsure of Merle and Daryl's last name, but looked around to spot the man in question coming towards them now that he had parked his truck and went through the main office.

"Daryl." She repeated, gesturing to the approaching man.

She noted his expression, a different kind of annoyance on it than there had been when he got into his truck that morning.

She also noted that his coveralls read "Dixon."

"This your job, Dixon?" Kennedy asked, not unfriendly, but simply curious.

Daryl grunted a confirmation and Amity held her keys out to him without hesitation.

"Need a hand?" The young man asked and Daryl shook his head.

Stepping out of his way, Amity watched the man climb into her car before guiding it further into the garage.

"Well, sweetheart. I'm not sure what you're getting done, but we've got a few chairs inside for you to wait in if you'd like?" Jacobs offered and Amity considered his words before pursing her lips up a bit.

"Can I watch? I'll be out of the way, but I'd rather not leave my baby while she's getting fixed. She's sensitive." Amity said, her tone joking which pulled a laugh from both of the mechanics.

"We'll set you up somewhere in here, but you can't wander. Hate for you to get hurt." Jacobs said kindly.

"Right damn shame that'd be." Kennedy added, his eyes never leaving Amity's face as he grinned.

With that settled, Amity let Jacobs lead her into the garage to an area near her car so that she could watch Daryl fiddle with it some more.

Nearly an hour had passed before he was approaching her and she was closing the book that she had been reading on her phone and looking up at him.

"The paint ain't gonna be comin' in today." Daryl told her, not holding her eyes as he looked off to the side of the garage.

The news had Amity frowning slightly, before chewing her lip. She was officially a day behind schedule and already had to deal with a phone call from both her father and brother that morning.

"It'll be here early tomorrow morning." Daryl added, eyes flickering briefly over to her and the redhead sighed before nodding.

"That's fine. You can't control the delivery system." She told him, not mad in the slightest, but put-off by how messed up her schedule now was.

"You need me to take you over to your pop's or somethin'?" He asked her, but Amity shook her head, giving the man an appreciative smile.

Daryl wasn't quite sure how much he deserved that smile.

First, he couldn't fix her car that night like he was supposed to, then he had her stay in his piece of shit trailer and woke up all on top of her like some kind of pervert. Now, he couldn't fix her car _again_ and wouldn't be able to until the next day and yet she was smiling at him like he was doing her the biggest favor in the world.

Weren't women like her supposed to be spoiled bitches?

It was easier when they just were.

The grey areas were harder for Daryl to deal with. He liked things being black and white, easy to read and easy to deal with.

"Is there anywhere in town to get breakfast?" Amity asked, pulling Daryl out of his head and back into the garage.

He felt eyes on him as he talked to the pretty woman, a woman that had no business being in a piece of shit town like his, let alone talking to the town's trash.

"There's a diner down the street. Walkin' distance." Daryl told her, the place being one of his favorites to frequent though he didn't say as much.

"You know if it has wifi?" She asked and the man gave her a look that had her sighing.

"Should have assumed not." Amity conceded, but her dejection didn't last long.

Looking over to where her car had been raised up, Amity considered the vehicle for a moment before turning back to Daryl.

"Can you bring that down? I need my bag and laptop. Maybe it doesn't have wifi, but I still have hotspot. I'm going to go get some work done myself while you're here. Then, uh, if you don't mind, I'll go back over to that hotel and see if there's room." Amity explained her plan, but the mechanic shook his head, confusing the woman until he spoke.

"Hotel said it was booked solid for the next few days. I can just get ya wherever after work and..." He trailed off, not wanting to push that she could stay another night with him but Amity was able to catch the implication and smiled softly at the kind man.

"Honestly, Daryl, you're the best. You this nice to all strangers, or just the ones your brother hits?" She asked, teasing the man a bit and smiling even as he grumbled at her about him not doing anything special.

After her car was lowered and her purse was retrieved and packed with her laptop inside of it, Amity turned to Daryl and held out a hand.

The mechanic's brows furrowed in confusion as he looked down at her hand, noting how soft and slender it looked, before glancing up to meet her cornflower blue eyes.

"Phone, please? I'm going to put my number in so you can call me when you're done." She explained.

The man only hesitated a moment before putting his ancient flip phone into the palm of her hand.

Amity looked at it for a moment with obvious surprise, the thing was practically a relic, then made quick work of adding herself to his contacts.

"I'll see you later, Daryl. Don't hurt my baby." Amity chirped as she turned to leave, waving kindly at Kennedy and Jacobs who were watching the exchange, and her, with wide eyes.

Daryl himself could guess what they were thinking, and he couldn't begin to fathom himself what the hell was going on or how he had gotten to that point.


	6. Chapter 6

After leaving the garage, Amity wandered in the general direction that Daryl had pointed out to her.

As she walked, her eyes roved over the nearby shops and found that the town, though small, was quite quaint and adorable in the daylight.

Not being able to resist and knowing that she had the time, Amity ducked into one of the first stores she had come across- a bookstore.

A bell jangled above her head as she entered, the smell of old books hitting the woman and pulling a soft smile to her lips as she let the door close behind her.

At first, the shop appeared empty but after a couple of seconds, a man who seemed around her age popped up from behind the counter.

His dark auburn hair was a bit wild, dust decorating the shoulders of his long-sleeved henley as he looked at her with widened eyes.

"Hi, hello! Welcome to Downtown Books! Sorry, I was just, uh, sorting through some new inventory." The man rambled off, his face reddening quickly to match his hair.

Hoping to soothe his erratic behavior a bit, Amity offered the man a smile.

"Hey, that's alright. I just came in and was just wanting to browse around." She explained, moving over to the counter to look at the spines of the books he had stacked there. "I'm Amity by the way."

"Jared." The man replied, his tone calmer now as he held out a hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Jared."

"You as well. Uh, I have to honestly say that you surprised me when I saw you. We, uh, don't get many new faces around here." Jared told her and she shrugged her slender shoulders lightly, running fingertips down the spines of the books as she read them.

"I'm just passing through on the way to my dad's. I had some car trouble so it's in the shop." She explained, glancing up and meeting the man's blue eyes.

"Oh, uh, nothing too serious I hope?" The man said kindly and Amity shook her head with a smile.

"Nothing that can't be fixed." She reassured.

After a moment of silence passed between them, Amity looking at the books while Jared looked at her, the man seemed to suddenly shake himself before gesturing at the rest of the store.

"Feel free to look around. There are signs on the end of each shelf that should, uh, help you navigate how it's organized." He explained.

"Thank you." Amity chirped as a reply before taking his suggestion and wandering further into the store.

First, she headed over to the non-fiction section of the place and began to browse the books, looking for some familiar names.

More than a couple of minutes had passed before the woman spotted a biography about one of her favorite psychologists of the past, Leta Hollingsworth. She was a woman who had helped her husband defend Coca-cola from a law suit via research and went on to pioneer the field of clinical psychology. She also did a lot of work to prove that women were not incapable in the work force.

She was an amazing woman and one of Amity's idols.

Picking up the book, the redhead cradled it to her chest after deciding that it was a purchase she would have to make as it would make for great reading material on her flight to Paris.

Not bothering with the fiction section now that she decided to buy a book, Amity headed back up to the counter and pulled her wallet from her bag as Jared made quick work of ringing up her purchase.

"Leta Hollingsworth?" He questioned, reading the woman's name off of the front cover.

"Yeah, she's a psychologist. An amazing woman." Amity explained, handing over the cash to cover the price of the book.

"Interest in psychology then?" Jared asked her and she couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"After spending four years getting my B.S. and five years getting my doctorate, I would hope I have a _bit_ of an interest." She commented, amused by the thought of her lacking interest in the field that she had dedicated her life to.

"You have a doctorate? That, uh, sounds like it'd be a lot of work. Are you a, uh, therapist?" Jared questioned, simply making polite conversation or so Amity assumed.

"I am a clinical neuropsychologist, so a bit above your average therapist, but for all intents and purposes, yes I am." She explained, taking her now bagged book and change from the man.

"That sounds, uh, intense. Better you than me." Jared commented, but his shy smile hinted to the fact that his statement was made good-naturedly.

"Lucky me." Amity agreed. "It was nice meeting you, Jared and I'm happy to see that this shop is around here. I had never paid this town much attention before... but it's turning out to be more than meets the eye."

With another farewell, Amity exited the shop and left the blushing and apparently easily flustered bookstore owner behind.

Continuing down the street, the woman browsed through a few more random shops.

She noticed as she walked down the sidewalk that she had more than a few eyes regarding her with either curiosity or confusion.

The town was a small one so she knew that most were probably just wondering who the hell she was since they all typically knew one another.

The stares didn't phase her though and after an hour or so, Amity made it to the diner that Daryl had mentioned just in time since her stomach began to voice it's protest to the lack of food she had offered it.

Stepping into the establishment, the woman was immediately assaulted with the smell of brewing coffee, grease, and syrup. In response, her stomach gave an extra prodding growl and she wasted no time in grabbing one of the empty booths.

Within only a few moments, a young woman approached and offered Amity a bright smile.

Her nametag read "Carrie" and she looked to be a few years younger than Amity herself.

"Hey, darlin'. What can I get ya?" She asked, her tone a bit too cheery to be real, but the smile she held at least seemed genuine.

"Can I get a coffee and a thing of creamer to start with?" She requested, having already noted the pourer of sugar on the tabletop. "Oh, and a water too please?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Comin' right up." She chirped, her tone shifting from being forced to a bit more genuine now before she was moving away towards the counter.

With that settled, Amity took time to glance over the menu and decide on a meal before she dug her laptop out of her bag and set it on the table, her phone next to it.

She wasted no time in attaching the laptop to her phone's hotspot then opening her email.

The sound of ceramic on wood had the redhead glancing over to see that the waitress had returned with her order thus far.

"Thank you." Amity said as she slid the coffee cup closer to her.

"Sure thing. I'm Carrie by the way and I don't mean to sound rude but..." The waitress trailed off but Amity offered a reassuring smile.

"But you haven't seen me around here before?" She supplied and Carrie laughed.

"You gettin' that a lot?" She asked and Amity shrugged.

"Apparently it's a small town." Amity noted and Carrie nodded, rolling her eyes a bit.

"You've got no idea, hun."

With that cleared up, the waitress pulled a notepad from her apron and looked at Amity a bit expectantly.

"You've got to get somethin' to eat, girl. You're gonna blow away right before my eyes." Carrie teased, laughing as Amity scrunched her nose up at her as a playful response.

"How about some chocolate chip pancakes, grits, and a side order of bacon?" Amity offered up as her order, pretending that she needed the woman's approval to know if the amount of food was substantial.

"Sounds perfect." Carrie replied, her smile tinged with amusement as she scribbled down the redhead's order. "Comin' right up."

As she took her leave, Amity turned back to her laptop and began to reply to emails.

She heard the whispers of curiosity and confusion as a group of women passed by where she was sitting, taking their own seats only a few tables over.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Amity was suddenly reminded of some of the major downsides of living in a small town.

Sure, you had a close-knit support group, a quiet life, quaint and cute stores, and a typically safe town, but you also had everyone being in everyone else's business all of the time.

She wasn't sure which side outweighed the other, but living where she was, it wasn't a choice she had to bother trying to make anytime soon.

Getting her food, Amity tucked in while she answered more than a handful of emails, CC-ing Cierra into a few of them even though the woman would be irritated upon realizing that Amity was working on her vacation.

In her defense, there wasn't much else for her to do while waiting for her car to get fixed.

It was nearly two hours after finishing her meal and Amity was still sat in the diner.

At first, she had felt bad about taking up a booth, but she knew she'd be leaving a more than generous tip and she had also asked Carrie if she minded.

After the young waitress pointed out the fact that the restaurant was half-empty and had been all day, Amity conceded to staying put.

She was just about to click send on her last urgent email when her phone began to vibrate.

Seeing that it was an unknown number, Amity figured it was Daryl and slide her thumb across the screen to answer it.

"Hello?"

"You still at the diner? We got done a bit early today, your car is locked up in the lot. Figured ya could ride with me, I got your bag and all." A familiar gruff voice said through the speaker and just the sound of it brought a small smile to the redhead's lips.

"That's fine. Thanks, Daryl. That was thoughtful of you." Amity replied.

The words were true, but she also knew well enough by this point that they would warrant an uncomfortable grumble from the mechanic and he did not disappoint.

Holding back a laugh, Amity glanced out the window of the diner when a familiar truck pulled into the parking lot.

"You coming to join me?" She asked.

"Nah, just thought I'd pick you up instead of ya walkin' all the way back to the shop." He muttered.

Another thoughtful action from the rough-and-tumble mechanic.

Smiling broadly now, Amity wasted no time in clicking send on the last email, packing up her things, quickly signing her bill, and throwing down a large portion of the cash she had in her wallet before heading to the exit of the diner, tossing a farewell to Carrie over her shoulder.

Telling Daryl that she was coming out, Amity missed the sight of the waitress' eyes widening at the sight of her tip and instead completely focused on the grey truck that had taken out the rear end of her car the night before.

Pulling open the passenger's side door, the redhead climbed inside and was immediately engulfed by the smell of the man she had come to be quite fond of, no matter how much she denied it.

It was nearly impossible not to be fond of the man.

Not only was he handsome, but even with his gruffer side and tendency to snap when pushed or uncomfortable, he was more thoughtful than anyone she had ever come across up to that point.

"Hey, Hoss. Save anymore damsels in distress today?" She asked, pulling a harsh snort of derision from the mechanic though she could have swore she also caught a flash of amused pleasure on the man's face.

"Yeah, right." He grumbled. "The only one in distress was gonna be Merle when ya had him hauled off by some pigs."

"Tomato, To-mah-toe." Amity sing-songed in return.

"Ain't nobody say to-mah-toe." Daryl quipped back, drawling out the last word before shifting under the bright smile that the woman turned on him, amusement glinting in her cornflower blues.

"You haven't met everyone, Daryl." She reasoned, not willing to give in that easy.

"Met enough." He reasoned, and it was only then that Amity realized they were turning into the trailer park that his home sat within.

She could barely believe that the drive had went by that quickly.

Glancing at Daryl, the woman chewed her lip for a moment.

She expected the silence that was now between them to be awkward, to be one that she felt that she needed to fill, but it just wasn't.

It was comfortable.

There wasn't a moment since she met the man next to her that she had ever truly felt uncomfortable or unsure, not even when Merle was around.

It was a thought that sobered Amity's previous amusement.

She wasn't sure what was happening in the tiny ass town that she had found herself in, but she was suddenly wary of the fact that she would have to leave it.


	7. Chapter 7

As it turned out, Daryl Dixon didn't eat.

Or at least, that's what Amity had assumed upon wandering into his kitchen and snooping through his cabinets to find that most of them were empty aside from a few random cans with old peeling labels.

"So, you're a take-out kind of man, I'm going to assume." She commented, closing the fourth cabinet she had pulled open just to frown at the bare bones inside of it.

The original plan had been to start fixing some semblance of dinner as a bit of a thank you to her host, but she was finding that to not be possible with the ingredients he had on hand.

"Ya always this nosy?" A gruff voice asked from behind her, startling Amity as she whipped her head around to see that Daryl was only standing a step or two behind her.

She had thought he was in the living room and hadn't heard him enter the kitchen.

"Are you always that sneaky?" She asked in return, a hand pressing against her chest as she willed her heart to slow back to a normal pace after the small startle he had given her.

"Ain't sneakin', you're just not that observant," Daryl told her and if Amity hadn't known better, she would have sworn that the corner of his lips had twitched up into a bit of a smirk.

"I didn't know I had to be on edge about random mechanics sneaking up on me." She retorted, barely suppressing the urge to stick her tongue out at the man.

"Random? It's my damn house, woman." Daryl reminded her and the redhead shrugged.

"Fair point." She conceded, turning back to the empty cabinets. "But really, Daryl. Here I am, trying to be nice and make you dinner and you have nothing to work with."

Shaking her head, Amity pursed her lips and turned to look at the man, finding that he was staring at her with eyes slightly wider than normal.

It appeared that she had caught him off guard with what she had said.

Smiling a bit to herself, Amity thought fast before the man converted his shock into grumbly defensiveness and moved to walk past him.

"Grab your keys, Toretto. I need to buy some groceries." She chirped over her shoulder as she collected her purse and hunted down her shoes.

She heard a scoff of disdain from behind her then a pause as she slid her feet into her shoes.

"Toretto?" Daryl questioned, echoing Amity's nickname for him back to her.

She turned around to look at him with a confusion that soon morphed into disbelief.

"Toretto. Like, Dom Toretto. Fast and Furious." She clarified but was quickly catching on to the fact that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I'm in your house currently, Daryl, so I know you couldn't have been living under a rock all this time." Amity sighed, shaking her head, but smiled when the man came over to her with his keys obviously in his hands.

"Ain't never seen those." He told her, confirming her suspicions, but the woman was perturbed. She already added on to her current game plan.

"I'll just have to browse the DVD section of the store then. You're a mechanic, you'll like the movies, I'm sure." She said, leading the way out the door and to his truck.

She heard Daryl grumbling to himself behind her but couldn't quite pick-out what he was on about aside from a few choice words.

"-like a damn puppy-"

Choosing to let him talk to himself if he so pleased, Amity hopped up into the gray truck and closed the door behind her, waiting for Daryl to join her.

"So, when's the last time you went grocery shopping for yourself?" Amity asked, her tone teasing.

"Shuddup," Daryl replied flatly in return.

* * *

The drive to the local supermarket was a longer one than from Daryl's work and as they parked, Amity could practically feel the tension rolling off of Daryl's shoulders.

"Problem, Dixon?" She asked, looking at him curiously but he didn't return her gaze.

"I don't come 'round here a lot." He replied and Amity nodded slowly, still confused.

"I gathered that by your empty cabinets." She said, but he shook his head.

"No, I don't come out 'round here because... ya know what, whatever, just forget it!" Daryl snapped and with that, he was making a swift exit from the vehicle, closing the door rather roughly behind him.

Amity was confused, but not off-put. She had gathered by now that Daryl's bark was worse than his bite ( at least seemingly when faced with her ) and that it was more of a defense mechanism when he was uncomfortable than it being brought out of actual anger or annoyance.

With a sigh, the woman pushed open the door of the truck and followed after the grumbling older man who was heading for the front entrance of the grocery store.

She noticed a couple of patron's eyes widening at the sight of his approach while they passed them on the way to the parking lot. She couldn't be sure if it was due to knowing the man or simply the presence of the angry scowl that was decorating his face.

Either way, Amity met their looks with a kind smile as she hurried to join his side.

Without pointing out the obvious displeasure that he was presenting at their outing, Amity was determined to have a successful shopping trip.

Moving through the automatic doors, the woman went to grab a shopping cart. She tugged it out of its line with the others and moved to push it but was stopped by two larger rougher hands gently moving hers away and taking their place.

Amity's confusion lasted only a moment before she was smiling softly up at Daryl, fighting off the heat that threatened to rise in her cheeks at his rather chivalrous gesture.

It seemed that he was grumbly, sure, but still more than a willing participant in their outing as he began to push the cart through the store at her side.

"Okay, Daryl- what do you fancy for dinner?" She asked the man as they moved through the produce aisle, her hands hovering over zucchini and squash.

"Not that." The mechanic stated, his gruff tone doing nothing to stop her amused chuckle at his obvious dislike of the vegetables.

"Then I need some input, Cowboy."

As Daryl considered her request, Amity moved off to grab herself a juice and a snack pack of grapes from the refrigerated shelves then returned to his side, placing her wares gently in the metal cart.

"I like most things," Daryl said, his voice soft in a way that kept Amity from pointing out just how unhelpful his statement was to her cause.

"How about some fried chicken? Mashed potatoes and peas?" She offered.

The man seemed to consider her words before nodding.

"No peas though." He stated.

"Corn?" She countered.

"You got a deal."

In all honesty, Daryl would have been happy with whatever the woman had decided to make them. He was still confused over why she felt like cooking for him anyway, but though he didn't know much he knew enough to never turn down the offer of a homecooked meal.

Laughing lightly at their bartering, Amity quickly led the pair through the shop.

She felt eyes on her back all the while and the covered whispers that sounded around them had her forcing herself not to bristle.

Daryl was doing enough of that for the both of them.

The man's blue eyes were narrowed, casting a glare around the store at anyone who bothered to so much as glance their way.

"The last thing we need is the chicken," Amity informed her shopping companion, walking at the front of the cart as they turned out of their current aisle.

As she finished her statement, the redhead found herself knocking gently into a chest and hands were quickly at her elbows to steady her.

Looking up slightly, Amity found the dark eyes of a man who looked momentarily stunned before offering her a beaming smile.

"Sorry about that. I promise I wasn't trying to bulldoze you over. You okay?" He asked kindly.

Finding her head, Amity smiled before taking a step back from the stranger while nodding.

"I'm fine and I'm sorry too. I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized, looking at the man who seemed more than ready to wave off her apology until another figure appeared at his back and distracted them both.

"Oh, uh, Leta Hollingsworth." The familiar man said and Amity nearly laughed.

"That's me," Amity confirmed with a chuckle, recognizing that the man had listed the book she bought off of him earlier rather than having mistaken her name.

"'s not." A gruff voice said from behind her and Amity looked over her shoulder to spot Daryl eyeing the trio with something akin to irritation.

She immediately offered him an apologetic smile for leaving him momentarily out of the loop. She understood how that could be frustrating.

"No, I'm Amity, but Leta Hollingsworth is the psychologist that the book I bought off of Jared here earlier was about." She quickly explained, gesturing to the red-haired man who had turned up after the dark-haired man had bumped into her.

Now turning her attention to said man once more, Amity's brow furrowed slightly.

"And this is..." She began.

"Cameron, my brother." Jared filled in her silence with a smile.

"Cameron," Amity confirmed the name with a smile at both of the brothers. "Nice to see you again, Jared- it really is a small town, and it's nice to meet you, Cameron. This is-"

She had begun to turn to gesture at Daryl who had now taken a few steps forward to be more at her side, but Cameron spoke before she could introduce the man.

"Daryl Dixon." He said with a nod in the mechanic's direction.

It was a gesture that wasn't returned though Daryl grunted out a noise of acknowledgment.

"We all went to school together. Different years." Jared explained as he caught Amity's confused look.

"Like you said, it's a small town," Cameron added with a chuckle.

"Chicken," Daryl growled out suddenly as he eyed Cameron, the word serving as a sudden reminded to Amity about the task at hand though Cameron had looked momentarily offended.

"Oh right!" She exclaimed before looking at the two men in front of her.

"Again, it was nice to see you again, Jared and to meet you, Cameron, but we really need to get the rest of the stuff for dinner tonight." She excused them both with a friendly smile, ignoring the apparent surprise that the two brothers expressed at her words.

"Oh, of course. It was nice meeting you as well, Amity. Do you plan on being in town long?" Cameron asked, his tone warm.

Amity wasn't sure how to answer that question and cast a glance over to Daryl only to find him staring down Cameron with a hard look in his eyes.

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure." She answered after a moment's hesitation but Cameron didn't seem perturbed by her lack of certainty.

"Well if you get the time then you should stop by Jare's bookstore again. It needs a new set of eyes browsing and my office is just next door." The man suggested.

"Oh?" Amity said in response, a questioning noise brought out of polite social norms rather than true interest.

"Cam's a big-time lawyer," Jared explained, seemingly the only one willing to keep Amity in the know. "Well, uh, as much as you can be in a town like this." He added, seeming to tease his brother a bit.

"Oh, well if I get the time then I'll try to stop by," Amity said, trying to keep up pleasantries though her words were mainly directed at Jared.

The ginger man was sweet, a bit shy and seemingly nervous, but still sweet. She found herself more unsure about his brother, especially with Daryl's reaction to him.

"I'll see you then- uh, that is if you get the chance," Jared said and with that, the two pairs parted ways.

As they continued through the store, Amity tried to pick back up the casual conversation that Daryl and she had going before she ran into the other two men but it seemed the interaction had glued the mechanic's lips shut.

With a bit of resignation, Amity wrapped up their shopping trip and paid for the groceries after a bit of arguing with Daryl over it before she had shoved her card at the wide-eyed teen cashier.

Daryl loaded them into his truck with ease and as the passenger's side door shut and she buckled her seatbelt, the redhead felt herself let out a long slow breath of air.

This small town had led to more whiplash than she had ever accounted for and a majority of it was due to the tumultuous man climbing in at her side.

His rough fingers twisted the key in the ignition, starting the truck with a roar, and Amity prepared herself for a silent journey back to his home.


	8. Chapter 8

Once they arrived back at Daryl's home, Amity made quick work of taking over the man's kitchen.

She used him as a resource for hunting down the pans she would need before shooing him out, advising him to go hit things with a hammer or whatever it is men like him did when they had a moment to themselves.

That had pulled a scoff and an eye roll from the man which had her laughing before truly threatening him with the spatula in her hand if he didn't get out of her way.

It was only once the chicken was breaded and frying and she turned to find a strainer so that she could drain the boiled potatoes that she realized Daryl hadn't gone far.

The man leaned against the entryway between his living room and kitchen, apparently content to stand there in silence and watch her cook.

Their eyes met when Amity turned, the woman's going wide at the realization of his presence, and the mechanic had enough mind to look sheepish over being caught.

Considering him for a moment, Amity hummed to herself before smiling.

"If you're not going anywhere then you might as well make yourself useful." She told him, gesturing for him to join her before turning to put the strainer in the sink and dumping the potatoes into it. Afterwards, she transferred them into a bowl and hunted down the potato masher.

Turning to Daryl, who had now wandered further into the kitchen at her request, Amity held the potato masher out to him and he eyed it like a snake.

"Come on, Chief. Put them biceps to work." She said, teasing him even as she pressed the masher into his hand then snagged his wrist to tug him over to the bowl.

"Leave them a little chunky and if you're unsure, just ask and I'll take a look, but I'm going to be doing my damnedest not to burn our chicken for the next few minutes," Amity explained before flitting off over to the stove and leaving the man in her wake.

Daryl did as directed and got to work mashing the potatoes as Amity fried the chicken.

He would admit only to himself that he enjoyed the quiet collaborative roles that they had fallen into. They weren't chatting one another's ears off but they were working on two parts of a whole and there was something nice about that. Something... domestic.

Daryl glanced over at the redhead once he believed he had finished mashing the potatoes and stayed silent so that he could simply watch her. Her auburn locks had been pulled back into a high ponytail as soon as they had all of the groceries unloaded. He assumed doing anything with that much hair to get in the way couldn't be easy.

The woman carefully transferred a few pieces of chicken from the pan onto a plate, obviously taking care not to burn herself, and Daryl wondered if he should intervene and help, but he refrained.

In no time, Amity had a plate piled high with fried chicken and had corn heated up on the stove. When she looked at Daryl, he quickly dropped his gaze to the bowl of mashed potatoes and snatched it up, holding it out to her for her approval.

Amity jabbed a spoon into the mash to test its consistency then smiled.

"Perfect, Daryl! Thank you!" She chirped, spinning around to the cabinets and opening them in search of more plates.

Reaching over her, Daryl easily lifted two glass plates off the shelf that was just out of her reach and handed them down to her with a smirk of amusement.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Daryl's amusement before sticking out her tongue, grabbing the plates, and turning away.

A few moments later, they were sat at the table with their meal in front of them.

The man went to tuck in immediately but paused when he noticed Amity folding her hands and bowing her head.

Though she hadn't asked him to pray with her or even wait, Daryl felt uncomfortable beginning to eat without the woman who had done most of the cooking so he sat quietly until her blue eyes were opening to meet his once again.

Upon noticing that he had waited, Amity offered him a grateful smile that made him that much happier about his decision to wait for her.

The first bite of chicken had a groan escaping Daryl's lips before he could stop it and Amity laughed.

"That good, huh? I worried that I was out of practice. I cook for my daddy and brother when I can, but I haven't really cooked a proper meal in years. Cooking for one is less fun." She explained, taking a bite of the mashed potatoes as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Ya don't cook for your boyfriend?" Daryl asked before he could stop himself and Amity gave him a flat look.

She had already informed him that she wasn't married and there was no ring on her finger. She thought that the boyfriend-less thing was assumed from that point on but apparently not.

"He doesn't have much of an appetite seeing that he doesn't exist," Amity told him, gauging his reaction as she took another bite of the meal.

Daryl pressed his lips together at her answer, his eyes dropping down to the plate of mouth-watering food as he considered what she said. It made sense that she was single only because of how she was hanging around. He doubted that her boyfriend would have been thrilled with her spending the night in some random guy's place, but still, he didn't know how her and whoever could have operated.

Just knowing Amity made it almost unbelievable that she could be single. He swore up and down that he had never met a woman like her before. She left him breathless with the way she looked up at him with those cornflower blue eyes. She was witty and didn't scare easy, not to mention she was one of the most beautiful damn things he had ever witnessed.

"What about your girlfriend? She doesn't mind that I'm staying around here? I guess I should have asked that before I strong-armed you into sharing a bed with me." Amity said, pulling a face at that.

She wasn't a man stealer. That wasn't her style, but she _was_ stubborn and sometimes had a one-track mind and had just only realized the issues that she could have caused.

"She don't mind much seeing that she don't exist," Daryl said, echoing Amity's earlier smart aleck comment and making her smile.

"Good then, no angry significant others for the either of us then." She said, her voice softer than it had been, shyer as she dipped her gaze.

Daryl eyed her for a moment, noting the slight pink tinge in her cheeks and writing it off as everything under the sun other than a blush before he began to eat once more.

* * *

"A car wouldn't blow up like that." Daryl commented as he watched the giant explosion on his television screen.

After his claim, he felt something hit his cheek and turned to see that Amity had chucked a piece of popcorn at him for his skepticism.

"Just enjoy the explosion, Daryl. Enjoy that things go boom in movies because movie life is always cooler than real life." Amity told him, shaking her head.

In response, Daryl threw a piece of popcorn back at her which hit her shoulder, landing in her lap where she picked it up and plopped it into her mouth without hesitation.

"They should still try to make it at least sort of realistic," Daryl grumbled.

After dinner had finished up and they cleaned up the kitchen the best that either of them was willing that night, Amity held up the movie that she had bought at the store before tossing it at him and prompting him to put it into his old ass DVD player.

She had gotten the first of the car movies she had mentioned earlier and despite his skepticism, Daryl was admittedly enjoying it.

"You know there's like five of these?" Amity commented and Daryl looked at her with surprise.

"Five?" He echoed disbelieving and the redhead nodded.

"Yep, apparently cars, crime, explosions, and hot girls sell movie tickets. Who would have thought?" She said, laughing as she adjusted her feet a bit.

Early on in the movie, Amity had thrown her legs over Daryl's lap without much of a care.

She had paused after the action, checking his response and once determining that the mechanic was only confused by the action instead of uncomfortable, she settled into that spot with no plans of moving.

Daryl had noted that her socks were burgundy with small golden circles with wings spattered across them. He thought about asking her what the hell it was that were decorating her socks, but he had a feeling that would lead to another movie that she would tell him he just had to watch.

Not that that notion was one that particularly bothered him.

Daryl was finding that he liked spending time with the lively redhead. He liked the way she teased him and smiled at him. He liked that she seemed to move through life without judgment.

What he didn't like was that he knew she was going to be leaving and that made his chest hurt in a way he didn't like to think too much about.

On screen, two cars had just peeled out onto a strip of road, signaling that another intense race was about to go down just as the door to the trailer swung open.

Amity jumped at the sudden noise, tensing dramatically while Daryl felt his mood instantly deflate at the sight of his brother striding in like he owned the place.

"Well don't the two of you look damn comfortable?" Merle drawled out and Amity immediately scoffed at the man.

She pulled her feet from Daryl's lap, figuring that the younger of the brothers was now going to be uncomfortable with the gesture so she tucked them under her instead.

"Make that past tense," Amity said a bit sourly.

She had been very content and wasn't all too happy with the man who broke her car ruining it.

"Lose the attitude, red," Merle responded, his tone a bit sharp for her liking and she immediately readied herself to spit back at the man, but Daryl intervened.

"Shut it, Merle. Man, just leave it." He told his brother who looked at him before snorting softly.

He walked into the kitchen, muttering all the while as he pulled open the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"Ya cooked, girlie? I know Daryl didn't make no damn fried chicken so you must've." The eldest Dixon called back to them, apparently having found the leftovers in the fridge.

"Help yourself, just leave some for Daryl for tomorrow." She called back, not thinking twice about it but wincing when she realized how... _involved_ that had sounded.

"You packin' him a damn lunchbox too then?" Merle called back, apparently having caught onto that as well.

Amity bristled, more from embarrassment than anything else and quickly scrambled to her feet.

"I'm going to take a shower if that's okay." She told Daryl, her words coming out as more of a rushed mumble and the man eyed her.

Now he was officially beyond irritated with his brother. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, Merle's last snide remark had gotten to the redhead.

"Yeah, sure. Towels are under the sink." He told her and Amity wasted no time in rushing off down the hallway and grabbing her bag before closing herself in the small bathroom.

Once the water had turned on, Daryl looked at his brother who was sitting at the table with a beer and a plateful of the food Amity had made.

"You're a dick," Daryl told him hotly and Merle scoffed.

"I didn't say shit but the truth, little brother. The woman's been stayin' with you for what? A day? And she's cookin' for you and makin' sure you have leftovers for lunch?" Merle said, his lips pulled up into a sneer. "Actin' like she's got a place 'round here or somethin'."

"She was bein' nice, Merle." Daryl countered, but his brother wasn't buying it.

"No one's that nice. She's wantin' somethin'." Merle reasoned but Daryl shook his head.

"I don't got shit to give her. I'm fixin' her car that _you broke_ to keep your ass from gettin' charged. Ya saw that car. There ain't shit she can get from me, or you." Daryl said.

"It ain't right, Daryl." Merle pressed and as much shit that he was talking about the redhead, Daryl noticed that he didn't have a problem scarfing down the food that she had made.

"You don't know shit for shit," Daryl grumbled.

"Ya fuckin' her then?" Merle asked crudely and Daryl bristled in response.

"Told ya this mornin' that it wasn't like that," Daryl replied.

"You told me shit," Merle said, leaning an elbow heavily against the table as he took a large gulp from the beer he had snatched out of Daryl's fridge. "The girl's stayin' in your place so you should be gettin' somethin' out of it too. Don't tell me she's a coc-"

"I'm fixing her car. She don't owe me shit." Daryl said quickly, cutting off whatever crude remark his brother was going to direct towards the woman.

He heard the water in the bathroom shut off and turned a sharp look to his brother.

"Leave her be, Merle. She's been nice to not press charges on your ass, so leave her be."

Merle rolled his eyes but sat back in the chair, seemingly resigned to doing as Daryl asked.

Letting out a silent breath of relief, Daryl leaned back on the couch and waited to see what the redhead's next move would be.

He knew that Merle had upset her, he just wasn't sure how much.

A few minutes of near silence had passed before Amity popped around the corner of the hall, her eyes finding Daryl's as she pointedly ignored Merle.

Her auburn hair was dark and weight, looking wavier than it did when it was dried. That evening she had changed from her day outfit into a pair of black leggings that fit her legs like a second skin, making Daryl have to put some effort behind not allowing his eyes to roam their long length and a flowing white tank top with some phrase on it that he didn't understand.

It looked like another language so he dismissed it and raised a brow at her expectantly.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. Feel free to finish the movie without me and uh-" Amity hesitated, not sure how to phrase her next words with Merle looking at her, or at least looking at her legs. "-go to bed whenever. I'm a heavy sleeper." She finished, offering the best vague explanation to Daryl that told him that he shouldn't worry about waking her up when he came to bed without outright saying that they were sleeping in the same bed.

"Night, Daryl," Amity said quickly, deciding it was best to press on rather than leaving the words hanging for Merle to sort through. "Goodnight, Merle." She added, glancing over at the ogling man before turning sharply on her heel to disappear back down the hall.

The bedroom door clicked and Daryl weighed his options before his brother's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"If you don't hit that, I'm gonna have to try, boy. Ain't gonna be able to sleep at night if I don't try." Merle drawled out and Daryl felt his hands clench without prompting from him.

"Shuddup, Merle."


	9. Chapter 9

Much like the first morning that Amity had woken up in Daryl Dixon's bed, she found herself waking up with a warm heavy arm draped across her waist, but this time, a leg was threaded between hers as well.

As it turned out, Daryl was a cuddler.

Who would have guessed?

Keeping still, Amity weighed the pros and cons of moving. On one hand, she was comfortable and warm and didn't want to risk waking Daryl and embarrassing him. On the other, she couldn't see the alarm clock to know how much longer they had before he would be woken up by his alarm and she had to pee.

Finally, after a few seconds of deliberation, Amity carefully extracted herself from Daryl's grip.

Or at least that had been the plan.

Gently lifting his wrist, Amity barely had time to slide over an inch before the man at her side was jerking awake. His blues eyes were wide and already his hand had twisted in her grasp so that his thick fingers encircled her wrist instead.

For a few seconds, they just stared at one another in silence until Amity's urgent situation pushed her to break it.

"I need to pee, Dixon." She stated simply, her gaze flickering down to his hold on her arm causing him to drop it like a hot iron.

"Thanks, chief." Amity quipped, trying to keep her tone light as she already could see the man mentally retreating.

She just hoped that her few moments in the bathroom would give him enough time to regroup.

Sure enough, when she emerged from down the hall and stepped back into the bedroom, she found Daryl up and at 'em, already fully dressed.

"You work fast, huh?" She tried joking and she swore she pulled a ghost of a smile onto his lips before he was brushing past her out the door, muttering something about coffee.

Rolling her eyes, Amity shut the bedroom door behind her and tried to make equally quick work of getting ready herself.

This time when she left the bedroom, she had her phone pressed against her ear and her duffel bag draped over one slender shoulder.

"Last I heard was that the paint would be getting in today." She spoke into the device as she crossed the living room, stopping to lean against the entryway to the kitchen so that she could watch Daryl fill two travel mugs up with coffee.

Her gracious host glanced back at her, brows raising in curiosity before he could stop himself and without a care about his accidental prying, Amity mouthed the word, "brother" to him and he nodded in understanding.

 _"You should have come back here, bug. There was no reason for ya stayin' over there waitin' around when you're so close."_ Michael raved on the other end of the line and Amity had to resist rolling her eyes at a man who wouldn't be able to see the action.

"I already told you that it's not that big of a deal, Michael. I'm visiting a friend while over here and I'd rather stay to oversee my car's repairs anyways." She told him, not feeling bad about her little white lie when faced with her overprotective brother.

She caught Daryl's side glance when she labeled him as a friend, but when he didn't say anything to the contrary, she didn't bother to ruminate on her words for any longer either.

 _"Since when do you have a friend in that tiny ass town?"_ Michael asked and Amity shrugged her shoulders before remembering once more that he wouldn't be able to see her do so.

"Since I'm a wonderfully charming person who makes friends wherever I go." She quipped back.

 _"Wait, so you just met this person? Are you stayin' with them? Are you craz-"_ Michael began, his protective rampage building up into what was sure to be a fit if Amity didn't cut it off and cut it off she did.

"Oh, the mechanic that is working on my car is coming this way now. I'll need to try to get some information out of him. Sorry, Mikey. Talk to you later. Love you, byeeee." Amity blurted out in a rush of words before ending the call with no remorse.

Looking up, she spotted Daryl looking at her with what couldn't be mistaken for anything but amusement, plain and simple.

"What? I didn't lie." Amity defended.

"I didn't say nothin'," Daryl told her, handing over the mug and taking her bag from her as he clearly worked hard to suppress a smile even as Amity narrowed her eyes at him.

"You didn't have to, Dixon. I saw the judgment behind your judgy eyes, you judger." Amity said, following behind him now that it was clear he was making his way to the front door, ready to head out.

She slipped on her sandals from the day before and stepped through the door he was holding open for her, thanking him with a smile. She hopped down the steps and was making her way to his truck when she looked around at the trailer park and realized that the attention of more than one of his neighbors was on them.

Under their gazes, Amity felt her cheeks heat up uncontrollably. She could only imagine what they were thinking of her and what they thought went on last night.

At least there was no Merle that she had to deal with that morning.

She had expected the eldest Dixon to be asleep on the couch or something, but she didn't see hide nor hair of him so far.

"You close with your neighbors?" Amity asked Daryl as he sidled over to his truck as well, shooting her a confused look as he unlocked and opened her door, gently tossing her duffle bag onto the floorboard.

Amity pointedly glanced over to the most obvious of the onlookers that morning and Daryl followed her gaze.

"Mornin', Daryl. It's a good mornin' too, ain't it?" The older man greeted from his front porch once Daryl had met his eyes, the wry smile on his lips having Amity's face feeling that much warmer as she quickly brushed past Daryl to climb into his truck.

Daryl scowled as he closed Amity's door, telling his next-door neighbor good morning but also to 'mind his own damn business' before he joined Amity in the truck, still muttering about nosy busybodies.

"I take it you don't have a lot of visitors, huh?" Amity asked, making conversation as they began the drive to his work for the second day in a row.

It was an oddly comfortable routine already.

Abruptly, Amity shoved that thought away. There was no reason for her to be getting comfortable with anything in this town. She was only a passerby, stuck for a couple of days then off to her vacation then back home to work.

That would be that.

She couldn't imagine Daryl answering her texts or calls or even wanting to keep up contact with her in the first place.

She wasn't about to make him uncomfortable by asking him if he wanted to do so after he was so nice to her.

"People are always comin' and goin' from my place thanks to Merle," Daryl replied, glancing over at her and catching her confused and pondering look that arose at his answer.

Why were his neighbors so interested in them that morning then?

"Ain't ever no one like you though, I guess." He added, seemingly catching on to her train of thought.

"Like me?" Amity asked, curious about what exactly he considered to be 'like her.'

"Ya know... all put together and smilin' and shit. You dress nice, you don't look like you're on nothin' or lookin' to be on somethin'." Daryl explained a bit gruffly. "You look... nice. That's just not who Merle brings around."

Amity tried to fight back a smile at Daryl's words, even if they did paint a darker picture of the people he was subjected to throughout his day to day life, he had also slipped some indirect compliments in there as well.

"I guess that's just who you bring around then," Amity told him, keeping her small pleased smile on her lips even as he looked over to her with his brow furrowed.

Daryl looked like he wanted to say something, but after opening and closing his mouth a couple of times he simply shook his head and the rest of their drive was spent in what Amity considered to be a compatible silence.

Once at the mechanic shop, Amity followed Daryl towards the garage and waved when she spotted his coworkers that she had met the day before looking at them with surprise etched clearly onto their faces.

Oh great, another pair of people in this town who no doubt thought she was a hussy.

"The paint you ordered came in today, Dixon," Kennedy called out once he had apparently recovered from his shock and Amity's smile brightened at that.

At long last, her baby would be whole again.

But nearly as fast as the smile bloomed on her lips, it began to fade.

With her car being fixed she would be leaving this small town and its people behind her. She would have no reason to stick around and no reason to stay in touch.

Pushing away those thoughts for the second time that morning, Amity trailed behind Daryl as he headed towards his coworkers to get his day started.

"Do you guys mind if I hang around again today? It looks like my car should be getting done today and I'd like to know as soon as it does." Amity asked the two other mechanics, glancing behind her as Daryl stalked away, his hands full of tools and stuff that Amity knew nothing about.

"Still got your chair set up back there so that your baby is in your sight and everything, darlin'." Jacobs informed her and she couldn't help but laugh softly at that.

"If all small-town mechanic shops are this accommodating, I'm just going to have to keep hunting them down." Amity quipped.

"Not all of 'em, just ours. Guess that means you'll have to come back around here." Kennedy told her.

"Guess I just might..." Amity replied, trailing off as she glanced over to where Daryl seemed to be setting up everything to work on her car once more.

* * *

It was a few hours of mucking about on her laptop, answering emails (and avoiding her assistants Skype calls when she noticed that her boss and friend was answering emails on her vacation) before she noticed that someone was approaching her.

"Dixon should be finishin' up on your car here soon, Miss..." Kennedy said once he had stopped in front of her, trailing off in question in regards to her name and it was only then that Amity realized she had never given him one.

"Oh, it's Amity. You can just call me Amity." She told him with a smile, holding out her hand that he shook, leaving a bit of grease behind on her palm but she didn't think to mind it.

"Well, in that case, you can call me Patrick." He offered in return.

"Careful, you're gonna get your clothes all dirty." A deep voice interrupted their conversation, the familiar drawl having Amity's smile brightening before she had even turned all the way to look at the man.

"Good looking out, Daryl," Amity told him, forgetting about her light washed jeans and pale pink top. The outfit was a poor choice to wear to sit around in a mechanic's shop, but, in her defense, she didn't have too many choices with the majority of her luggage still being in her car.

She took the rag that he offered from his back pocket, carefully cleaning off her hands before handing it back.

"Sorry 'bout that," Patrick apologized and Amity shrugged.

"I suppose it comes with the territory." She said, dismissing his concerns and looking to Daryl.

"Any news? Will she pull through?" She asked him, her goal to pull a smile to his lips since his expression was rather grim at that moment.

Rolling his eyes, Daryl gave her a feeling a triumph when the corners of his mouth briefly twitched up.

"All that was left was a paint job, girl." He reminded her as if she didn't already know as much, which her playful smile led him to believe otherwise.

"And?" She prompted.

"And she's good as new," Daryl told her, holding her keys out towards her which Amity immediately went to take from his grasp before hesitating, unable to understand why she did so or why a wave of sadness had just crashed over her. For some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to take the keys.

Patrick cleared his throat, obviously sensing some of the tension of that moment as he glanced between the pair, and quickly excused himself with another apology and a half-hearted smile.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at the redheaded woman, not understanding why she was not reacting with the same exuberance that she seemed to have for just about anything else that ever occurred.

Hell, she had literally whooped for joy in the middle of a daggum Wal-Mart the evening before just because she had found the Fast and Furious movie she wanted them to watch.

"I, uh, do you have a lunch break?" Amity asked suddenly, her tone softer than what was usual for her and she rose to her feet after asking her question, setting her laptop down on the seat in her place.

"Yeah, in about 15 minutes," Daryl told her, confused.

"Could I... Could I buy you lunch... as a thank you for everything before I go?" She asked and waited as the man-sized her up.

Daryl's sharp eyes took her in, looking critically at everything from her stance to the set of her jaw before nodding.

"If you want to wait around then sure, I guess." He said, trying to shrug off the offer as if it hadn't sealed up a bit of the emptiness that had already formed in his chest from the moment he found that the sealant on her car had dried.

"I don't mind waiting. I've got time." Amity told him, a bit of her former light brightening up her expression.

It was a light that Daryl was pretty sure he'd kill to keep from going out.

There was something about a brightness like that, a brightness like _her_ , that you had to fight to keep. You couldn't let it go out or fade away. You had to be grateful for that light shining over you, grateful just to be within the scope of it, and you had to hold onto it while it was there.

"Lemme just get things finished up here," Daryl grunted, turning away from the woman and yet still feeling like the sun was on his back when she chirped out an, "okie dokie," after him.


End file.
